1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mobile filtration facilities used in filtering liquids derived from mammalian blood and other fluids.
2. The Relevant Technology
Mammalian blood serum, such as fetal bovine serum, calf serum, and the blood serum of other mammals, is broadly used in the growth and development of cell cultures. Although serum can be derived from the blood of all animals, it has been found that serum derived from a fetus or new born has enhanced properties for cell growth. In part, this is because such serums are high in growth factors and hormones which enhance cell growth.
Most mammalian blood serum is obtained at established slaughterhouses. For example, fetal bovine serum is typically obtained from fetuses that are removed from cattle that are slaughtered for beef. The fetuses are taken to an area of the slaughterhouse where the blood is harvested from the fetuses. The blood is then processed so as to remove the serum component. The raw unfiltered serum is then placed in bottles and quickly frozen.
Because there are relatively few fetuses and such fetuses have a rather small amount of blood, fetal bovine serum is a precious and expensive commodity. Prior to use of the serum, the serum must be filtered under highly stringent conditions that require the use of a sterile clean room. Furthermore, most filtering processes pass the serum through different stainless steel tanks and fixed lines that must be repeatedly cleaned and certified between batches. This cleaning requires the use and disposal of hazardous cleaning chemicals. Although a clean room and the required filtering equipment can be erected at each slaughterhouse, this is generally not cost efficient. That is, because there is such a small volume of fetal bovine serum harvested at a given slaughterhouse, it is difficult for a single slaughterhouse to recoup the expense of building, operating, manning, and maintaining a sterile clean room and the filtration equipment.
As a result, the traditional approach to filtering serum is to ship the serum to an established filtration facility. The problem with this approach, however, is that slaughterhouses are widely spaced apart throughout the world and there are relatively few filtration facilities. Because serum must remain frozen, the serum becomes relatively expensive to ship over long distances to the established filtration facilities. Furthermore, because of various blood diseases, some countries will not allow blood products to be transported into their country for filtering and/or sale.
In addition, it is often critically important to the purchasers of filtered serum that they can establish and certify where a particular serum was derived and filtered. Acquiring a serum in one country, filtering the serum in a second country, and then attempting to sell the serum in a third country is largely prohibitive. Such movement between countries makes it difficult to obtain required import licenses and to provide sufficient assurance to the end purchasers as to the origin and history of the serum.
Similar types of problems are also encountered in filtering blood components which are used in clinical chemistry controls. For example, human donated blood that has expired is typically processed to extract the serum, plasma, and fractions thereof which can subsequently be used in clinical chemistry controls. Again, prior to use such blood components must be filtered under highly stringent conditions that require the use of a sterile clean room and a filtration system. The expired blood is often found at blood banks and other storage facilities located at sporadic locations throughout the world. As with fetal bovine serum, filtering the blood components is cost prohibitive to the storage facilities. The blood and/or bloods products are thus typically shipped to filtration facilities. Again, however, the shipping of blood products requires refrigerated shipping which adds significant cost to the final blood products. Furthermore, attempts to transport blood products between different countries can be problematic.
Accordingly, what is needed are methods and systems that can be used to efficiently filter and/or sterilize blood products and other types of liquids that are produced and/or collected at different facilities around the world.